Curious Jealousy- a F!Shenko Fic

Chapter Seventeen: Release

Adria didn't say much as she helped Kaidan pack up the few items that he had collected since being brought to the hospital. She wasn't sure how to bring up the foulness of his mood that hadn't dissipated over the last few days- and she was almost certain that a certain Commander was to blame.

But, she kept silent.

"Looks like I'm all packed up," Kaidan murmured, his husky voice sounding strained.

"Most people collect more when they spend such a long time in the hospital," she said lightly, a smile playing on her lips.

Kaidan turned around and looked down at her. There was no humor in his eyes and he seemed slightly disgusted by her words. "We're at war- the whole damn galaxy is fighting to continue," he reminded her harshly.

She took a step back- not used to Kaidan taking that kind of tone with her-, and he hated her for that. She didn't even have the courage to keep her shoulders square and fight with him- to berate him for taking such an uncalled for tone. He hated her for all the reasons that he couldn't love her.

He wondered if he could have loved her if Shepard had stayed dead.

Kaidan glared down at him omni-tool and wished that he had destroyed the damn thing long before he had even been put in his current situation. It was bad enough that Mike and his wife Jade had arranged the blind date, but the fact that Councilor Anderson (he could barely look at the man without thinking about Shepard, let alone hear the title that she had gotten for him) ordered him on the date was beyond belief.

If he would rather work than be social, what right did anyone have to get in his way?

But, when your best friend from BAat and his wife beg you to go and the human Councilor orders you to do something…well, you tend to do it.

So, there he sat in a café on the Citadel and waited for his "bombshell" date to arrive. The only bombshell I want won't ever arrive, he thought sadly as he took a drink of his tea (the drink of choice of his fallen Commander). Oh, she would drink coffee on those mornings after an exhausting battle or after a long night of amorous activity, but she preferred tea (Earl Grey or Green).

"Commander?" a soft, soprano voice asked from behind him and he couldn't help himself from straightening his posture and looking around for Shepard. After a few seconds, he remembered that he, too, was a Commander.

No, that was wrong. She wasn't a commander anymore because she was gone.

Turning, Kaidan plastered on a fake smile that was as convincing as he could manage- he hadn't smiled in the year and a half since she died. It just didn't seem right. The woman before him was definitely a looker- but a looker in all the wrong ways to Kaidan.

Oh, she would be a knockout for anyone who hadn't already had their ideal woman in mind. The woman before him had eyes the color of the emeralds that his mother always wore when his father took her out on a date and the woman before him had long, chestnut brown hair. She was beautiful…just not enough for him.

He wasn't being fair- comparing her to someone who was so far beyond any man's league-, but compare her he did.

She held out her hand to him. When he took it and shook it, she introduced, "I'm Adria Moore."

"Kaidan Alenko," he answered, letting go of her hand and gesturing to the seat next to him. "It's nice to meet you."

She leaned towards him and gave him a sweet smile. "It is."